(Photo credit: Flickr user Dave_B__)

Christmas is a time most Americans view as an opportunity to take a well-deserved holiday with their families and loved ones. But that’s apparently not how Ronald McDonald sees it.

Ad Age has obtained an internal memo from McDonald’s Chief Operating Officer Jim Johannesen where he advocates for keeping the chain open on Christmas Day. “Our largest holiday opportunity as a system is Christmas Day. Last year, [company-operated] restaurants that opened on Christmas averaged $5,500 in sales,” he writes in the memo.

McDonald’s spokeswoman Heather Oldani told Ad Age that she won’t comment on leaked documents but that “when our company-owned restaurants are open on the holidays, the staff voluntarily sign up to work. There is no regular overtime pay.”

This is, of course, a weak justification. If a store must be open on a holiday, employees will feel pressure to sign up to work. And if they are working on America’s most treasured holiday, they deserve overtime pay. McDonald’s should not treat its workforce this way. We’re not loving it.